


First Mission

by whump_tr0pes



Series: David & Nia [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gunshot Wounds, Major Character Injury, Medical Accuracy, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Mission Fic, Original Character(s), Partner Betrayal, Partners to Lovers, Ransom, Rescue Missions, Torture, Whump, Whump Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-13 14:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20583908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whump_tr0pes/pseuds/whump_tr0pes
Summary: David and Nia have just been promoted to a special team in their agency. They will be cleared for duty as partners if they can pull off a simple mission: retrieve a downed aircraft's black box from the terrorists that have it.But when David gets captured, it's up to Nia to find the black box and save David...if she can stay alive as well.





	1. Simple Mission

**Author's Note:**

> David and Nia are original characters I created when I was a teenager, trying to sort out my feelings about whump. I wrote increasingly violent whump scenes, pushing the boundaries on how far I could push these characters before they just broke. I'm resurrecting them at last, editing my previous stories (because oh god were they medically inaccurate) and writing more to flesh out the storyline I established over several years. I hope you love their pain as much as I do.

Nia ran down the alley, the gun held tight in her hands, her arms rigid. So far the mission had gone off without a hitch. It was her first one with her new team and her new partner, David. The mission was simple enough: retrieve the black box from an aircraft shot down near this location. No one wanted to send her and David on a difficult mission until they could prove their abilities as a team. All they had to do was grab this box and they’d be signed off for duty on the most elite and dangerous missions at the agency.

“David? You still there?” she radioed.

“Yeah, Nia. Still alive. Stop micromanaging, I’ll be fine.”

“Can’t be too careful,” she replied. “Call me when you reach the building.”

The radio crackled again. “No, wait. Someone’s following me.”

“Friendly?”

“Ah…no.”

Her hands tightened on her weapon. “Shit. How far out are you?”

“50 meters, pretty straight shot.” His voice sounded stressed.

She moved faster. Whose damned idea was it to send _David_ in first? They knew she wanted to run point.

“Ah, shit,” she heard over the radio.

She paused, her heart racing. “What?”

“They got me surrounded.”

Her stomach dropped. “Armed?”

“Yeah. Oh, shit. Nia -- !”

The transmission went dead.

“David! David, do you copy? David!”

He was gone.

She radioed command. “Command, David is down, think someone grabbed him.”

Command radioed back, “copy, David is down, continue with the mission. If he’s with the box when you retrieve it, extract him as well. We’ll send additional units.”

“Copy.” She ran now, counting in her head. One block. Two blocks. A corner. As she turned it, she caught sight of the target. A simple office building where all intelligence indicated the box had been taken to. All she had to do was retrieve it. And now David, too. Shit.

As she approached the building, she did not slow. She holstered her weapon and launched herself onto the scaffolding, climbing up to a fire escape platform. She slid her knife into the lock on the window and it clicked open. _Nice security._

It _was_ just an office building, she reminded herself. The dangerous part of it was the dozens of armed men guarding the box inside. There were plans to move the box tomorrow. This had to be done today.

She crawled through the window and landed silently inside. She sheathed her knife and drew her sidearm again.

The box, as far as the team knew, was on the second floor on the east side of the building. She passed hall after hall, room after room, all empty. No David. No bad guys, either. That was either a good thing or a very, very bad thing. It meant that either David had taken out enough of them that they couldn’t perform patrols of the whole floor, or they had already left with David and the box. Then, weeks of collecting intelligence, finding their location, and retrieving the box. Nia hoped extracting David would be part of the mission too, but she doubted he would survive if the terrorists decided to move again.

Unless he was already dead.

No. She would not think of that. He was alive.

As she passed by an office to her right her eyes caught movement. She darted behind a pillar, slipping her finger onto the trigger. Millimeter by millimeter, she peeked past the pillar. In the dim light of the building she could make out a man seated in a chair, his head bowed. His hands were tied behind him. _David._ She closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillar, thinking hard.

This would be close. One more time, she checked the room. About 20 guys. More than close. Impossible. Before she could take out half of them, she would probably be killed. And she could hit David by accident.

Suddenly her head smacked against the pillar. The gun in her hand went off harmlessly into the ceiling. Her arm twisted behind her back as the man struck the gun from her grasp.

She snapped her head back into her attacker’s face and jammed her free elbow into his ribs. The man released her. She spun away, reaching for her weapon on the floor.

A bullet pierced her wrist.

She screamed as her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. She heard blood spatter the ground, a sickening dripping sound.

“Nia!” David screamed. “God dammit, you said you wouldn’t hurt her!”

She didn’t think there were any broken bones. Some tendons gone, but she knew what broken bones feel like. This wasn’t it.

She was dragged to her feet and half-carried to a chair facing David. Her hands were zip-tied behind her. She was almost grateful for that; it put pressure on the wound.

Doing her best not to panic, she cast her eyes around the room. What could she use as a weapon? What were her escape options? And her mind kept returning to the same refrain. _David. David is here. David is captured._

Blood leaked into her eyes from a cut on her forehead. She twisted, trying to wipe it off onto her vest.

Finally someone spoke, startling her and drawing her attention to a man wearing a bulletproof vest over plain clothes. “Nia, is it?”

She did not hesitate. She spat hard in his direction. That earned a slap across the face.

The man turned to David. “This is her? Good lord. What a handful. Seems like more trouble than she’s worth.”

She bared her teeth at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The man smiled. “With your people knowing where I am, I cannot safely leave the country with the box. Unless I have you. I doubt they’ll try to stop us if they know we’ll kill you if they try. When I’m safely away, I ransom you and come away free and richer.”

“What has this got to do with David?”

The man placed his hand on David’s shoulder. “It was his idea.”

She looked at David. “_What?_” she whispered. He didn’t speak, but his face told her everything she needed to know.

She yanked against the cord around her wrists, cutting into the skin. Pain lanced through her wound. She hissed through her teeth. “Damn you. Do you have _any_ idea what this could do to our operation?”

He wouldn’t look at her. “They promised they wouldn’t hurt you.”

She heard snickers around the room. She glared at David. “Damn it, don’t be so naïve. They’ll kill us as soon as they’re safe.”

The man stepped toward Nia. “If you two are finished, it’s time we were going.” He waved a hand at David. “Cut him loose.”

“Wait!” David shouted. “You’re taking us both! That was the deal!”

The man shook his head. “No. Easier to travel with just one. We’ll take her.”

She heard David’s breathing hitch in his throat. “You promised you would ransom us when you’re safe. You’ll send her back?”

The man smirked. “In one piece, more or less.” Again, muffled laughs around the room.

David growled. “You can’t do that.”

“You’ll find that I can,” the man replied. “We’re going to let you go now. Go back to your team and tell them what we agreed upon here. Do not try to stop us.” He pulled a gun from his waistband and pressed the barrel against the side of Nia’s head. “Or we will kill her.”

David shook his head. “You won’t hurt your meal ticket.”

“Oh, won’t I?” the man sneered.

He pressed the gun under her vest and fired a round into Nia’s shoulder. She screamed in agony. Her back arched and she writhed against her bonds, gasping and sobbing. She dimly heard more blood spill onto the ground. She felt hands on her shirt, cutting it open along her arm. She felt hemostatic gauze pushed into the wound. She moaned. Proof that he would kill her. That’s all this was. Proof that he would hurt his meal ticket.

The bleeding was quickly stopped. She could not be allowed to die, not yet.

“No no no!” David pleaded, frantic. “Why can’t you just take me? Have me. Let her go. I’ll come with you. Graylan, please. Take me.”

“Why not you?” Graylan smirked. “You said it before. _She’s_ the best. So they’ll pay more for _her_.” Graylan rested a hand on her shoulder, the one he hadn’t shot. She tried to shrug him off, but he clutched her with a pincer-like hand. “We are going to let you go now,” Graylan repeated. “As soon as you are free, lie down on the ground. You are not to get back up for five minutes. After five minutes, you may inform your team of what happened here and of my ransom demands.”

She heard the snap of plastic under a knife.

“Down on the ground,” Graylan said.

“Wait,” David implored. “First, can just…please…one more thing…”

Graylan rolled his eyes. “Make it quick.” He yanked her up from her chair and threw her against the man standing closest to David. He clutched her arms, restraining her as she fought weakly. She couldn’t tell if she could feel the bullet still in her shoulder.

David put a trembling hand to his mouth. “Nia… I’m so sorry. But I’ll see you soon. I’ll explain everything.” He approached her slowly.

“Your time is running out, David,” Graylan snapped.

David’s face was inches away from hers. “You’ll live through this. I’ll make sure of it.” Then, quickly, he closed his eyes and kissed her.

She snapped her head back, but he held her face and pressed his lips once again to hers. Something slipped inside her mouth. She considered biting him, until she realized what he had just given her.

It was a pill grenade. Highly concealable. The agency had been experimenting with them for a while and had toyed with the idea of testing them out with this mission. It was like a glowstick. Bite down on the pill to mix the fluids inside to create a powerful explosive. Throw. Watch the boom.

David was helping her escape.

“I’ll see you soon,” he whispered. He pressed his forehead against hers. Then, two words. “Don’t die.”

He was shoved away.

“Down on the ground, David,” Graylan said. “Hands on your head. Five minutes.”

The men dragged her away. They led her down the hall she had approached from and turned a corner.

If she was to survive, she had to move now. Once they left this location there was no guarantee the team would ever find her again. She bit down hard and shook her head a bit for good measure to mix the contents of the pill.

“Hey asshole!” she shouted. Graylan turned. “Yeah, you. Watch this.” She spat the pill as far as she could in Graylan’s direction and threw herself to the ground.

The explosion was massive for such a small source. Pieces of cement and steel blew apart and fire singed her skin. Several men around her went down. Debris caught her in her injured shoulder. She screamed.

“Nia!” she heard a voice scream. “_Nia_!!”

“David!” Her voice sounded scared to her own ears. Already the hallway was smoky and she could barely see. She twisted her torso and grabbed a knife from a man’s belt that had gone down with the explosion. She pressed it against the zip-tie around her wrists. With a quick jerk, she felt it come away.

“Nia!” His voice sounded so close. She whipped around just as he reached her. Before he could touch her, she had the knife to his throat.

“What the _fuck_, David!” she shouted at him. “Fuck you. You betrayed me, the team, everyone…”

“I can explain,” he said in a rush. Suddenly, he pressed his gun against her throat. “But not if I’m dead. Let me go. I can get you out. Then I’ll tell you everything, ok?”

After a second’s hesitation, she lowered the knife. “Fine.” She clutched her injured arm to her chest. “I thought I knew you.” She saw pain tighten in his eyes and looked away.

Already the fire had spread. He turned to the exit, grabbing her vest. “Come on,” he shouted over the rising roar of the fire.

Without warning, a shot rang through the hallway. She screamed and fell to the ground as blinding pain drove into her hip. For one crazy instant, she thought David had shot her. But then she heard his scream. “Nia! Nia!” She felt his hands on her, dragging her towards the exit. She looked back and saw the source of the shot as he bore down on them: a man from Graylan’s entourage.

The man swung his firearm and connected with David’s head. David went down with a grunt. The man grabbed Nia’s wrist and dragged her away from David. “I can still collect the ransom on you,” he growled at her. She quickly looked around for an option.

There. On the floor. A gun, probably belonging to one of the men the explosion had killed. She swung her good leg against the man’s knees and leveled him. She scrambled across the floor towards the gun, slipping on her own blood. Another bullet drove into her leg and swung her lower body around, pushing her closer to the weapon she needed. Bullets shattered the floor around her and chips of linoleum sprayed her face.

Her hand touched the weapon. She turned and emptied the mag into the man’s chest. He fell to his knees, dead. His blood pooled on the floor. Unless it was her blood. She didn’t know anymore.

Spent, she slumped back. The fire was raging around her, climbing the walls, splaying out across the ceiling. Smoke clogged the air. _I have to get out_, she thought. _I’m going to die here._

She rolled onto her stomach and began to drag herself across the floor. Her strength was fading, blood leaving her body too fast to live through. _I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die._ Her muscles strained until she could no longer lift herself at all.

Finally she lay still, waiting for the fire. She tried not to think of David. He would not save her. He was probably gone. He had betrayed her.

“Nia!”

_Go away._ She didn’t want to get shot again.

“Nia!”

She growled. _Go away. Leave me alone._

“NIA!”

The closeness of the voice woke her up a little, enough to make one small, pathetic call for help. “Here.”

“Nia!” He rushed to her side and dropped to his knees beside her. He rolled her onto her back and she saw his face spinning sickeningly above her. “Nia. You’re alive.”

“No,” she moaned. “Leave me alone.”

He ignored her, lifting her in his arms. His face twisted as she screamed in pain.

“Please,” she whimpered, her voice fading. “Don’t give me to them.”


	2. Complicated recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Nia is nearly killed by terrorists after David betrayed her, she has to come to terms with that - and realize things might not be the way they appear.

She knew immediately that she was on a plane. The sound was so distinctive.

She groaned and looked around. She was on a cot, partitioned off from the rest of the plane. Her vest had been removed. Her wounds had been dressed. Blood and some kind of medication was disappearing into a large bore IV in her arm. All her gear was arranged on a table next to where she was lying. Her sidearm, stripped down and empty. Her knife. Her radio.

She realized David was sitting beside her too.

In a panic, she grabbed the knife with her good arm and held it protectively over herself. She growled wordlessly at him. Her stomach lurched. She knew she couldn’t kill him if she needed to, betrayer as he was. She couldn’t explain why. She knew if he wanted to kill her, she would let him before she could make him bleed.

“I understand your mistrust of me,” he said without prologue.

“Yeah, no shit.” She snarled at him. “Get away. Get _away_.”

David grabbed her wrist and twisted the knife out of her grasp. She couldn’t stop him. She was too weak.

“I understand wanting to kill me, really, I do,” he said. “But at least listen to me. Let me explain. Then I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Fine,” she said, falling back onto the cot.

His words poured out in a rush. “You heard when they took me. They brought me back to that room and told me they saw you coming, too. They told me they had a sniper on you, ready to shoot on their order. They said they would kill you if I didn’t cooperate with them. They said they were going to take us both hostage and ransom us once they were away. They were going to _kill_ you, Nia. They told me I could choose between their sniper taking you out, or letting you come to me so they could take you.” He blew a slow breath out between his lips. “I’m sorry. They gave me a choice that I saw as you alive or you dead. I chose to keep you alive. I figured it would work out in the long run.”

Nia was silent for a moment. “You risked jail for that. You’ll be thrown off the team for sure.”

“As long as you’re alive, I don’t care what happens to me.” He handed the knife back to her and opened his arms, exposing his neck and chest. “So. Have at me.”

Nia looked down at the knife in her hand. She looked up at him. “You really saved my ass back there, you know.”

A half smile pulled up the corners of his mouth. “It was a privilege to save your ass.”

She placed the knife back on the table. “I think if I talk to them, I could at least get you out of jail time. You _did_ save me.”

“They’re waiting just outside to take me in for questioning,” he said.

Her heart sank. “Why haven’t they yet?”

“I begged Tom to let me say goodbye first,” David whispered. “So I could do this.” He kissed her. He pulled her slightly up off the cot, cradling her face.

She hissed as her wounds reacted and she pulled away. “Help me sit up.”

“No,” David said. “I can’t move you. They think your shoulder blade is cracked and they have no idea what the damage is to your hip. We’re on our way to a trauma center right now.”

She lay back on the cot. “Fine. When will they come for you?”

The partition opened in answer to her question. Their team lead stepped into the tiny space with two other agents.

“Tom,” Nia implored. “Let me talk to you, this was a misunderstanding. He saved me. Debrief me and I’ll tell you everything.”

“I know,” Tom said, sounding uneasy. “But you have to know how this looks. We just need to talk to him, clear some things up. That mission did not go well and the higher-ups want to know why. I can’t debrief you until after you’re out of surgery. David’s got to stay in our custody until Collet’s questions have been answered. Focus on getting better for now.” Tom made a motion towards David and the two agents stepped forward and handcuffed him.

Nia tried to push herself up off the cot. “If you don’t reinstate him when you’re done, I’m withdrawing my services from the team.”

“Don’t do that,” David pleaded.

“You had my back, David,” Nia said. “I can take care of myself with regards to Collet. What’s the point of my being on the team if you’re not around to save my ass?”

“True,” David conceded, and they led him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's my first mission fic for you guys. From here on out, things get pretty violent for them both. Hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
